When I woke up, on the morning of November 3, I did not know how that day would end. I did know that the stability and integrity of Kaiser Permanente, an organization I believe in, was being challenged. Later that afternoon, the organization began notifying the first of our employees that their positions were being eliminated.
Kaiser Permanente is a good organization. Our values do not include disregarding the livelihood of our employees, so unnecessarily. Our employees, those employees are people who are committed to their work, people who believe in what our organization stands for, people who care for our members.
It is unfathomable to me that so many of our resources are being allowed to be depleted, unnecessarily. It is unconscionable to me that we are so carelessly disregarding the livelihood of our colleagues, our friends, to try and compensate for those missing resources.
I never could have imagined that November 3 would end the way it did. I could never have imagined the way our organization would respond, to me, to these issues. It goes against every single one of our principles. Still, given every disappointment over the past month, there are too many people who now know, who care. People who are now engaged. People who are protecting Kaiser Permanente. People who will stand up to challenges to our integrity, our reputation, our principles.
I know that there are thousands of people, where I work, doing the most amazing things everyday. They are good people, people who do what they do because they believe in their work, and many of them, because they believe in Kaiser Permanente. I believe in Kaiser Permanente.
Troubles are a blessing that force you to change, to believe.
Maya Angelou.
on Dec 6th, 2006 at 23:17
…and always keep in mind the devastating adversity these devices could have on patient safety…especially during down time…it is inconceivable that the doctors and nurses would tolerate that. All adverse events should be reported to the FDA. Justen, you’re my man!
best regards and save kp
on Dec 6th, 2006 at 23:17
What - if anything - can be done to fix the problems at KP?
on Dec 7th, 2006 at 02:12
you bring up a big point. near misses and adverse events caused by healthconnect are not being tracked. higherups say that such talk is just “blaming healthconnect for somebody else’s problem” - which tells you a lot about their attitudes toward nurses. even the stewards have yet to really get a handle on how to deal with the huge number of healthconnect mishaps that affect patients.
inside kaiser, all this - that healthconnect is a huge catastrophe, and that it’s not just a money issue - we can see all this day in and day out. i’m glad somebody is finally pulling the emergency brake on the runaway train.
anonynurse
on Dec 7th, 2006 at 17:50
The FDA has not evaluated these devices for safety and efficacy, and the toxic effect these devices have on the practice of medicine is huge. Nurses are afraid to come to work because they fear for their patients’ safety. They spend their time taking care of these electronic computer devices and not the patients. Mistakes and mental lapses are rampant.
All events in which patients suffer adversity or in which patient safety is compromised or in jeopardy in any way related to the use of these dysfuntional ehr and cpoe devices must be reported to the FDA (fda.gov).
Do not be afraid to use the FDA as an ally in aborting this catastrophe. Call the FDA, ask them how they can allow this to go on, and give them details of patient care catastrophes due to these devices. Let’s work together for a RECALL of these devices to save KP and relieve the suffering of patients, doctors and nurses in other hospitals throughout the USA.
Best regards
menoalittle